Anything that is different stands out. Go along a row of Victorian-era terraced houses in a particular sleepy town in England and nearly all the two-floor houses are the same. From the front, one anonymous-coloured door and one window at ground floor. Upstairs, two windows. The difference is that one of the houses has a bright scarlet door. It stands out. (It’s owned by a Ukrainian blonde, three former husbands and exuberance that would make Dolly Parton appear as a sleepy snail.)
To hotels. Girlahead admits she was not prepared to be bowled over by MARRIOTT RESORT THE PALM JUMEIRAH DUBAI. It’s a massive glass house, 14 floors high, with 608 rooms inside. All rooms, from 41sq m up, face the ocean. This means that there are long internal corridors -184m-long straight corridor from one end to another, with 84m-long side corridors. Best rooms are two rooftop Penthouses, with big terraces, and four, 87sq m Palm Suites. All rooms, anyway are simple effective, white with hints of blue.
Right, what IS different? The ground floor has lots of eating and drinking opportunities. Girlahead loved the pasta studio, with rows of spaghetti lengths literally hung up to dry. And in the adjacent brasseries there’s wine on tap. See above.
One final memory. Can’t remember what his outgoing Aussie Sales supervisor was wearing but the enthusiastic Westphalian GM Gerhard Schmitt, tieless of course, was wearing sneakers. Marriott today, updated, the difference and we love it.
